Purpose :
To investigate the association between the frequency of rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) and the atmospheric temperature.

Methods :
Retrospective review of consecutive eyes which undergone primary RRD surgery (pars plana vitrectomy or scleral buckle) from 1996 to 2016 at Chungbuk National University Hospital was conducted. Temperature data (highest, lowest, mean daily temperature and daily temperature range) in Chungbuk Province was obtained from Korean meteorological administration data base. The primary objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between the daily temperature range and the frequency of RRD surgery. And we also analysed the association between various temperature data and the frequency of RRD surgery.

Results :
From 1996 to 2016, the number of RRD surgery at Chungbuk National University was 990. The monthly average number of RRD operations showed a bimodal peak (April and October) throughout the year. With the same tendency as frequency of RRD, the monthly average of daily temperature range during 1 year also showed bimodal peak in April (daily temperature range, 12.3 ° C) and October (daily temperature range, 11.2 ° C). And there was a significant positive correlation between the monthly average of daily temperature range and the number of RRD surgery. (Pearson correlation coefficient: 0.312, P<0.001) However, there were no association between RRD frequency and mean temperature, highest temperature, lowest temperature and temperature change compared with last month.

Conclusions :
The higher the daily temperature range, the more RRD frequency was observed. From the point that chorioretinal adhesion might be affected by temperature, we thought that dynamic changes in temperature during the day cause changes in chorioretinal adhesion, which eventually resulted in retinal detachment. Therefore, further studies on the correlation between daily temperature range and retinal detachment are needed.

This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2017 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Baltimore, MD, May 7-11, 2017.